


Required Reading

by nerddowell



Series: Drabbles + ficlets [9]
Category: Versailles (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Return of the Cats, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Philippe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 10:07:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12010497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerddowell/pseuds/nerddowell
Summary: Chev finds Philippe's secretTom of Finlandbook in their home library.





	Required Reading

**Author's Note:**

> [An example of (very!) NSFW Tom of Finland artwork.](http://68.media.tumblr.com/f5a727147b05c557074b028e5c93a03f/tumblr_mr7nyv39BX1scj897o4_1280.jpg)

The dusk is just beginning to transition to full dark as Philippe finally gives in and turns on the library reading light on the end table beside the window seat. He’s tucked himself away behind the heavy curtains, wrapped in a blanket and leaning against the sash windows, finally reading for pleasure instead of dry, heavy course textbooks for university, and he’s enjoying graduate life so far. True, he’s not found a job yet and therefore has been relegated to interning at his brother’s law firm, and he’s still working out how to stop Chev’s cats from immediately reclining in every basket of warm, just tumble-dried laundry he’s two seconds ago finished folding, thereby covering all of his newly washed clothes in the cat hair they were cleaned to remove, but he’s relishing the three days a week he gets to sleep in, and all the nights he can curl up here or in bed with a good book and a cup of green tea (Chev’s latest thing – he’s on a ‘cleanse’ – which he’s got Philippe equally hooked on) to read for hours.

He’s just nearing the end of the chapter he’s reading when Chev himself bursts through the door like a curly blond hurricane and deposits himself in the chair beside Philippe, dangling his head back off the back of the chair and sighing melodramatically. When Philippe doesn’t respond (as he has learned to whenever Chev does anything so patently attention-seeking), Chev huffs louder and then grabs Philippe’s foot through the blanket, demanding his engagement with the situation. Philippe patiently tucks his bookmark between the pages and closes the book to fix Chev with an expectant expression, one eyebrow raised.

‘What is it? Has one of the furry hellbeasts shit in your best shoes again?’

‘Worse, _mignonette_ ,’ Chev gasps, a hand over his brow in a ‘woe is me’ expression, ‘you’re keeping secrets from me!’ He pulls a book out from beneath his chair and thrusts it in Philippe’s face, his expression artificially woebegone, eyes sparkling with humour. Philippe glances at the book’s cover and then does a double take, a fiery blush spreading across his face.

‘Aha!’ Chev pounces, amusement battling mock sorrow in his voice, ‘you don’t even deny it!’

‘It’s not what you think,’ Philippe says a little desperately, trying to wrestle the book out of Chev’s hands. His boyfriend hangs onto it tightly, yanking it out of Philippe’s grip and opening it to a particularly incriminating double-page spread of a leather-bound policeman spread-eagled on the floor being spit-roasted by a pair of strapping marines.

‘Such filth, _mignonette_. I am shocked.’

‘It’s art!’

‘Darling, this is porn. There’s no other word for it. As… intriguing… as it may be, it’s positively pornographic and I for one am shocked that my chaste, straight-laced little Philippe has such a risqué tome lying about our good Christian household.’

At this, Philippe laughs out loud. ‘You, a good Christian? Not by any stretch of the imagination, you salacious bastard.’

‘I’ll have you know I was born in holy wedlock,’ Chev says archly, his eyes dancing. ‘The salacious part, however, I cannot deny.’ He flips the page and admires the picture for a moment, turning the book to get a better view of the upside-down ‘victim’s’ face. ‘It does give one something of an inferiority complex, however.’

‘If I believed you capable of feeling inferior to anyone I’d believe you on that.’

‘I’ve seen slimmer tree trunks!’ Chev protests, pointing to one of the offending organs. Philippe laughs.

‘Well, some people are into the feeling of being split in half. I can’t say it’s a danger for myself.’ He directs a sly glance between Chev’s legs, and his boyfriend laughs, snapping the book closed to aim it at his head.

‘Beast!’

‘Hardly,’ Philippe says with another catty glance, and Chev dives off his chair and on top of his giggling boyfriend, grasping Philippe by the wrists and holding him down against the window seat. He grinds his crotch against Philippe’s, shaking blond curls out of his eyes, and grins at the slight catch in his boyfriend’s breathing, the way his blue eyes widen.

‘I don’t need a tree trunk between my legs to make you cry for me,’ he purrs, his tone slick and dangerous, and Philippe shivers against him, eyes wide on Chev’s face.

‘No,’ he murmurs a little breathlessly, before regaining his composure. He narrows his eyes and smirks. ‘Prove it.’

Chev grins and reaches for the button of his jeans.


End file.
